Sen. Bill Nelson, the Florida Democrat, and former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a onetime Republican who recently turned Democrat, said the state GOP aimed its efforts at Hispanic and black voters. They cited as one example the elimination of early voting on the Sunday before the election, when members of those groups historically vote after church.

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the panel, defended Republican efforts to clear the rolls of ineligible voters and was backed by two Republican secretaries of state -- Matt Schultz of Iowa and Ken Bennett of Arizona.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the Illinois Democrat, had sharp exchanges with the Republican secretaries of state over their attempts to find ineligible voters.

"Do you have evidence of noncitizens voting in Iowa?" Durbin asked Schultz.

"Since August 2012, six people have been arrested," Schultz said.

Responding to another question from Durbin, Schultz said 1.6 million Iowans voted in the last election.

"There are six cases," Durbin repeated.

Schultz said: "That is what we have so far. We just started the investigation in August."

Under prompting from Grassley, Schultz said he has been trying to get access to a Homeland Security Department database that tracks who is a legal resident eligible to receive government benefits. He said he has been stonewalled by the federal agency.

Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a Democrat in the South Carolina legislature, said that state's attempt to impose a voter ID law would have suppressed the African-American vote, because "a voter residing in the easternmost part of my district would have to incur the costs of traveling approximately 70 miles roundtrip to the county seat to obtain a photo ID. "

A rise in the number of provisional ballots delayed the results for days in some states. The growing photo ID requirements placed on voters by Republican-controlled state legislatures sparked intense partisan fights.

Edward Foley, a law professor at Ohio State University and director of the law school's election program, said there's a potential disaster lurking in the increase in provisional ballots provided to voters whose eligibility is questioned.

"One should have faith in the system," Foley said. "Rules should not be set for one party for its own advantage. What surfaced between 2010 and 2012 was use of the legislative process for what appears to be partisan advantage that we hadn't seen previously."

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.